A faithful man will abound with blessings,
But he who hastens to rich will not go unpunished.....
Proverbs 28:20
But he who hastens to rich will not go unpunished.....
Proverbs 28:20
There is a Children's story that I believe is fitting for this passage of scripture. The story of the rabbit and the turtle. These two animals were going to race one another. They set the time and the day and lined up for the big race. Off they went with the obvious one (El Rabito....the rabbit, for those who don't know Spanish #:) taking the lead from the beginning, Mr Turtle ran his normal pace (snails crawl). What a race it was, not quite the race we would have expected!
The rabbit was easily distracted by many things and stopped, visited or whatever he desired to do, always thinking he could make up the time. Mr Turtle stayed at his normal pace throughout. Ultimately we all know what happened. The rabbit's erroneous thinking ultimately brought him down. THE TURTLE WON!!!
How in the world You say, does this have anything to do with today's passage??? Well it hinges on these two words.....FAITHFUL....and..... HASTENS.
Faithful brings to our minds the slow, deliberate, consistent actions of someone. While the opposite is true of the word hasten. Hasten, to hurry, rush, speed up or even quicken. You see, we often try and make things happen much faster than they actually require. Financially, emotionally, physically and even spiritually we seek to "HURRY" things up! Sadly, not realizing that things that matter often take time!
Things that come quickly rarely last. Look at the stat's regarding those who "win" the lottery. The vast majority wind up in worse shape than before they were "winners" and I use that term loosely. Have you ever heard...easy come easy go??? A life that is spent rushing form one arena to another seeking the next quick high, short cut or even new thing often winds up losing far more than they could even imagine.
There is no short cut to freedom in Christ. The cross is the only way to a relationship with God! There is no short cut to spirituality. The daily disciplines of reading His word and prayer is HIS method of growth and maturity. There is no short cut to financial freedom. Learning to live daily on a budget, well below your income consistently is the only way to true freedom!
Today's passage teaches us that faithfulness, while not the quickest is still the best way. While there may be many other methodologies that offer options of short cut to freedom, they may even work for a season...ultimately they will fail. Our society is learning that now....the hard way!
I will close with this......the headlines of our children's story....
The rabbit was easily distracted by many things and stopped, visited or whatever he desired to do, always thinking he could make up the time. Mr Turtle stayed at his normal pace throughout. Ultimately we all know what happened. The rabbit's erroneous thinking ultimately brought him down. THE TURTLE WON!!!
How in the world You say, does this have anything to do with today's passage??? Well it hinges on these two words.....FAITHFUL....and..... HASTENS.
Faithful brings to our minds the slow, deliberate, consistent actions of someone. While the opposite is true of the word hasten. Hasten, to hurry, rush, speed up or even quicken. You see, we often try and make things happen much faster than they actually require. Financially, emotionally, physically and even spiritually we seek to "HURRY" things up! Sadly, not realizing that things that matter often take time!
Things that come quickly rarely last. Look at the stat's regarding those who "win" the lottery. The vast majority wind up in worse shape than before they were "winners" and I use that term loosely. Have you ever heard...easy come easy go??? A life that is spent rushing form one arena to another seeking the next quick high, short cut or even new thing often winds up losing far more than they could even imagine.
There is no short cut to freedom in Christ. The cross is the only way to a relationship with God! There is no short cut to spirituality. The daily disciplines of reading His word and prayer is HIS method of growth and maturity. There is no short cut to financial freedom. Learning to live daily on a budget, well below your income consistently is the only way to true freedom!
Today's passage teaches us that faithfulness, while not the quickest is still the best way. While there may be many other methodologies that offer options of short cut to freedom, they may even work for a season...ultimately they will fail. Our society is learning that now....the hard way!
I will close with this......the headlines of our children's story....
"THE TURTLE WINS!"
So which are you????
Be Faithful!
You'll be glad you did!!!
Blessings
Bruce
Be Faithful!
You'll be glad you did!!!
Blessings
Bruce
No comments:
Post a Comment